The senate approved a series of laws this week aimed at attracting companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp, and help stem declining crude production in Latin America's No. 2 economy.

Saipem has been awarded new drilling contracts in Indonesia, Nigeria, the Arabian Gulf and Latin America worth approximately USD 850m of which USD 540m are related to offshore activity and refer to four different units of Saipem’s fleet

In the course of their negotiations, Rosneft and PDVSA agreed to extend the Petrovictoria JV Establishment and Operation Agreement with the purpose of prolonging the Carabobo-2 project entry bonus agreement

China has strengthened its position in Latin America with a slew of deals between itself and Venezuela that will see the two nations collaborate on oil projects within the South American nation, as well as increase its oil exports to China.

Argentina's vast Vaca Muerta shale oil and gas formation, thought to be one of the world's largest, is partially located in Neuquen, which accounts for 64 percent of the country's natural gas production.

The package of so-called secondary laws needed to implement the energy reform moves to the lower house of Congress, where the process of voting on energy bills passed by the Senate in the last few days has already begun.

The Senate voted 90-28 to approve the general outline of the hydrocarbons law, which details the rules for private contracts and fines, but lawmakers reserved dozens of articles for further debate before a final vote.

Argentina’s state own regulator and operator, YPF, has launched a new 55 kilometre-long natural gas pipeline with the capacity to transport over five million cubic metres of gas per day in the shale-rich Neuquén province

The potential reduction in profit is based on an estimate of the amount of lost oil and natural gas output and additional spending needed if Petrobras had to stop using the floating oil production platforms leased from SBM.